Clean Eating and What it Means to Me

i like to eat ‘clean’, and for me that means staying the h*ll away from processed foods. i am not a strict clean eater, because let’s face it, i stinking love sugar… i am by no means a health nut, i follow no strict regimen, and i do enjoy the occasional chocolate milkshake, or more notably, a cold brewski. #yesiamofage #drinkresponsibly #whouseshashtagsinablogpost #loser

Anyways, there are great and easy ways to eat clean that are amazing for your quality of life. i would not recommend this as a diet plan, but hey maybe it’s a start. For me, i burn more calories sitting here than a stud dog during mating season.  Is it because i try to eat clean? Or have a fast metabolism? Tape worm? Medical problem? Who knows, who cares, all i do know is that i definitely do not need to lose weight. 

Whatever i am doing though, it works for me.

For one, i stay the f*ck away from processed foods. As much as possible. This includes but is not limited to:

Fast food joints you know exactly which ones i’m talking about so i will not dare and name them. Everyone has their own personal favourite. 

Pre-fabricated foods 

if it comes in a pre-sealed bag, it’ll make you sag. Think of ‘garbage’ foods like potato chips, cookies and candy,

If it comes in a pre-sealed box you will never be a sexy fox.  You know it; crackers, granola bars, sugary cereal and all those other perfectly marketed foods that are meant to be ‘healthy’ for you. “but Melissa, this contains WHOLE GRAINS” … go ahead and check out the amount of sugar and sodium in those products, you may as well be eating a cookie…i bet you already are anyways fat *ss. 

Pre-fabricated frozen-faux-foods. TV dinner anyone? NO! NEVER! Chicken strips?! PFFFTT! Pizza pops?!? NOOOOOooooow we might be able to work out something for those..WAIT, NO NO NO!!!

Pop/Soda/Cola/Coke/sweet tea/whateveryoucallit: from where i'm from, these sugar infused bottles of diabetes are referred to as pop. at least i think so. but it hardly matters because i seldom drink any of these. the only exception is if i have something really greasy like pizza, and need it to cut the grease, and even then i usually share with someone else.

Do:

Drink water, not a ton or anything, but a sufficient amount that’ll make you wanna pee at least 4-6 times a day. At least that’s how i know i’m getting enough. A big glass first thing in the morning is said to help you lose weight FYI. see here and here. and no, i am not sponsored by either of these sites...unless they want to, which you know, i might be cool with ;)

Do:

Drink more water when you drink alcohol, your body will feel so much better. 

Do:

eat several times a day, throughout the day, but do not over-stuff your self ever. i've been told i eat like a squirrel... all these small meals and snacks several times a day, but hey if you look at me you'd think i eat nothing. thin, fit and proportional; take that! suckersss. 

Do:

Make your meals from scratch; no, putting frozen chicken wings in the oven does not count as ‘from scratch’. nor does adding boiling water to a pack of ramen/instant noodles. 

From scratch—to me this means chopping and preparing all your veggies, or fruit by hand; Preparing rice that takes longer than 5 minutes to make; using meat from a fresh, not frozen state (unless you bought it fresh then decided to freeze it to eat at a later date); mixing your own ingredients to make a sauce (i.e anything from teriyaki to spaghetti sauce); and essentially putting together a recipe that requires the ingredients to be used as building blocks to create the final product. 

Some people go so far as to make their own cheese, milk, bread and use only home-grown ingredients. While i don’t expect anyone to live like the family from Little House on the Prairie, or have their own homestead, it certainly isn't a bad idea to make as much as you can from the ground up.

i like to be able to know what i am consuming, so if there is a word on a package that sounds like it belongs in a chemical engineering class i try to avoid it at all costs. That also goes for things like artificial flavours and colours. Food dye's have been suggested to cause ADHD in kids (see here and here)...Though there's not a ton of conclusive evidence, i would just stay the heck away from ingesting something that is artificial. like come on people, it's ar-ti-fi-cial...it's unnatural! 

while i am no role model for the ultimate clean-eating lifestyle, (lord knows how much flour and sugar go into my recipes, and yes, i do occasionally deep fry certain dishes..i'm pretty sure that's illegal for clean eaters...) however, i do try to maintain a lifestyle that follows a simpler way of life --though it is a lot more work to adhere to-- which mostly means cutting out processed crap. 

Food is the fuel for your body; without the foods you eat you would be a goner, or as my five year old self would say “deader than dead”. A lot of the time it is easy to ignore the fact that we are literally surviving because of the food we put in ourselves. It is way too easy to stop at a drive through after a long day at work, or even worse in the morning before our day has even started. 

It's a similar philosophy to putting gas in your car; sure the premium might be more expensive (most of the time) but it makes the car run soooo much better, and it lasts soooo much longer on that one tank! So next time you grab a bite to eat, think about what is in it, and if it is worth it. Are you giving your self regular for a quick and easy fix, or premium to stimulate your body for days? 

photo cred here

I would like to know what it means for YOU to eat clean, if you practice it partially, or fully? Has eating clean made a difference in the way you feel, or maybe even look?

i found this little ditty on eating clean... lemme know what you think!